Starbucks third space and community spirit

If you look at the history of Starbucks, the most important turning point for it to truly transform from an ordinary coffee shop to a cultural phenomenon and such a successful brand was when Howard Schultz realized that Starbucks sells It's not about coffee, it's about service and experience. Later, he borrowed the concept of “third space” to perfectly explain Starbucks’ philosophy. The idea of ??the “Third Space” and, more importantly, how Starbucks executes it perfectly.

The concept of "Third Space"

The concept of "Third Space" comes from a book "The Great Good Place" by sociology professor Oldenberg. There is a theory in the book that people need informal public places where they can gather, put aside worries about work and family for a while, relax and chat. Beer gardens in Germany, pubs in the UK, coffee bars in France and Italy are all such places. Without such a place, a city cannot cultivate free, open, and equal interpersonal relationships, and people can only be restricted to their own small circles. Therefore, having a “third space” is particularly important for a city.

You can hear here that Starbucks has given its existence a sociological significance. "Jobs' Magic Speech". The article says that Jobs is the best at giving greater meaning to what he does. For example, when he mentioned the music player iPod, he said this:

"The iPod is not just a music player, it also has a greater meaning. In today's digital age, music is happening Revolutionary changes, music is returning to people's lives, this is a very beautiful thing, we are making the world a better place in our own way."

Similarly, Schulz. Oldenberg was also quoted, saying:

"In the third space of Starbucks, people's relationships are free and equal. There is no sense of hierarchy in the workplace, nor in the family. From the constraints of this role, people can release their true selves. I think Starbucks’ mission is to inspire and nurture the humanistic spirit and unite every community through every customer and cup of coffee.”

Practice of Starbucks

How does Starbucks implement its mission of “bringing people together and building communities”? We can do some analysis from two aspects.

1. Store layout and design

You will find a classic design of Starbucks, which is the Starbucks "bar". If you sit at this "bar", not only can you easily see how the Starbucks baristas make a drink, but these clerks will also come over and chat with you when they are free. The moment I took this photo, it was a small scene of a shop assistant chatting with a customer.

In fact, this is the most emphasized point of Starbucks store design and layout - to do everything possible to promote communication between people and create a community for everyone to socialize and relax. The design of the bar counter implements this idea.

Starbucks also has its own ideas for the layout of tables and chairs. For example, the distance between seats is not that far, but when you sit down in most seats, you won't feel too embarrassed if there is someone sitting next to you. In some other cafes, you can't see these details.

There was once a very popular article called "Why do people line up horizontally at Starbucks and vertically at McDonald's?" 》. As mentioned in the title, the queuing methods at Starbucks and McDonald's are very different.

If you imagine yourself standing in line at McDonald's, you usually line up vertically, then stretch your neck to look at the menu above, and occasionally look at how many people are in front of you.

But in Starbucks, there will be no such situation. Starbucks' lines are all horizontal, which not only saves space in the store, but also has several obvious benefits:

1. The horizontal lines allow you to clearly see the lines on the wall. You don’t have to worry about your line of sight being affected by the product menu, and you can also take a look at what delicious food is being sold in the display cabinet, or what new peripheral products Starbucks has released. This way, you'll have something to occupy your time while waiting in line without increasing your anxiety.

2. The horizontal bar is like an open low kitchen. You can see the various processes performed by the barista, which adds a sense of ritual and experience. You may even feel that making this drink is really not easy, so it’s worth the price. This is also the coffee culture that Starbucks has always emphasized.

3. Last but not least, when queuing sideways, it is easier for customers to interact with each other. If there are queues in front and behind, people cannot talk to each other, but queuing sideways will promote communication - sometimes these interactions are explicit, such as you can strike up a conversation and chat with other customers; sometimes Communication is implicit—for example, if you see the person in front of you ordering something interesting, you might want to try it yourself.

So, these are all the detailed efforts Starbucks has made to create a community culture that embodies the humanistic spirit.

Looking at McDonald's on the other hand, its vertical queue also has its reasons:

First of all, it helps customers make decisions faster. Because there isn’t much you can do when queuing vertically, so “deciding what to eat” is the biggest thing. When you stand in front of the checkout counter, you have generally made a purchase decision. So this can speed up the turnover of the entire restaurant.

Also, I don’t know if you have noticed, but sometimes when you eat at McDonald’s or KFC, you actually have to queue twice. Because one side is ordering and the other side is waiting for the food, or in other words, picking up the food. Deliberately separating the groups of customers who order and pick up food can avoid confusion, allow McDonald's service staff to move more efficiently, and customer segmentation can be clearer.

In a word, McDonald’s core gene is “speed”, while Starbucks’ core gene is “social”. Therefore, creating a relaxed, comfortable environment where you can communicate freely and intimately with other people is Starbucks’ most important goal in the entire store layout design.

2. Product Design

You should be familiar with the overall product structure of Starbucks. One of the distinctive features is the name Starbucks gives to its coffee cup shape - that is There are names like small cup, medium cup and large cup. If you have been to Starbucks, you will find that they have a very unfamiliar way of naming their products. The smallest cup shape is called the medium cup, in the middle. That cup shape is called a large cup instead, and the largest one is called an extra large cup. Moreover, they also have a set of unconventional names that actually come from Italian corresponding names - Tall, Grande and Venti. Many times later, there were heated discussions on the Internet about how unscientific this naming method was, and even a bit arrogant and annoying. So if we explain it from what we are talking about today, the core concept of Starbucks, how can we view this matter?

You can think about it, in a community group - whether it is a virtual or real group - what is the most important thing? In fact, it has its own unique language

You can just give an example in life. Nowadays, many people are confused about the two-dimensional groups that everyone often discusses because they use some unique language. and vocabulary may be confusing to outsiders, but internal communication is very efficient; in addition, if you watch football, the fan group will also have its own "slang". For example, people will call the Premier League football team Chelsea "car" , - Actually this is derived from the Cantonese pronunciation, because the Cantonese translation of Chelsea is called "Che Lu Shi" (car, walk, knight), so over time, everyone called Chelsea a car. If you are a Chelsea fan, you can say "my car" when referring to the team. This is a kind of slang within the community and a way to project one's own identity. What Starbucks wants to take advantage of is the mysterious power of this language.

For example, once you learn the three words Tall, Grande and Venti, you will silently begin to identify with the coffee culture that Starbucks represents. And next time you go to a Starbucks store, you can observe that when Starbucks clerks communicate your order to each other, they must use a long string of English, just like the slang of gangsters. Slowly, you become more and more familiar with what you are drinking, and you even start to make requests, such as soy milk, low sugar, more chocolate sauce or no cream, etc.

The more requests you make, the higher your recognition of Starbucks becomes, and the longer the name of the drink you order becomes. In the end, they are like a contract and a secret language. Once everyone starts using it, they will have a sense of belonging and ritual, and it can also give everyone a stronger group identity. As these proper nouns become known to everyone and even become buzzwords, the brand effect is established immediately, and it is conceivable that the advertising effect it produces is also very strong.

Space layout design, internal circulation planning - that is, how to guide customers to queue up, how to guide service staff to move more efficiently, etc., as well as considerations on product naming, are actually all centered around It is built with Starbucks’ core gene of “social”. In essence, this is the power of the Starbucks brand. To put it more bluntly, it is also why we are willing to buy a cup of coffee for thirty or forty yuan. Building a brand actually means going beyond the product itself and reaching the deepest level of human nature. At this point, Starbucks has given us another classic case.